Facility Management Software

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10 Reasons to Tear-up Your Old Event Scheduler

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Tim Cool

Are you still using a paper calendar to schedule events and rooms at your facility?

When we developed eSPACE, our team thought for sure that our biggest competition was going to be the large scheduling systems. However, over 50% of our net new partnering opportunities are from organizations that still use a paper calendar, wall calendar, or sundial (just kidding about that last one).

Some have graduated to an “electronic” based tool like Excel, Outlook or Google Calendar (quasi schedulers). While that is a step in the right direction, you may still be functioning in the Dark Ages compared to how proactive organizations manage the use of their facilities and what solutions are available to assist you. Many of our clients and churches and we have learned that that not every facility opens their doors on just Sunday AM, Sunday PM and Wednesday nights and nearly every organization has a slightly different schedule. The more diverse your organization, the more likely the complexity of space utilization is magnified.

In order for you to meet the demands of your organization, you need to re-think how you schedule your facilities/events and what tools must be incorporated into your systems and processes. Don’t fall slave to the dreaded “7 words of a dying organization” (you know – We Have Always Done It This Way)…there are better ways to schedule your facility…and it won’t break the bank.

Here are 10 reasons why it may be time for a change:

1. A cloud-based calendar can be accessed anytime, anywhere. The cloud is here to stay…embrace it.

2. Identify and manage scheduling conflicts…this is so critical and is a key component that paper schedulers and “quasi” scheduler can not provide.

3. Team members and stakeholders can view a calendar of activities in the facility in real time.

4. The organization determines who “controls” and has access to the calendar.

5. Event requests go through an approval process before being finalized on the calendar.

6. Avoid two groups needing the same space at the same time. Nothing worse than double booked spaces.

7. Intentionally plan events to ensure all necessities are available for the event and already placed in the appropriate part of the facility (tables, chairs, sound system, child care, etc).

8. Push the responsibilities to request events and determine the spaces, resources and services by those who need the space and not just a single contact person. The day of the “gate keeper” is quickly passing us by.

9. Empower staff, team members and leaders to resolve their own scheduling conflicts before “the boss” has to get involved.

10. Reduce the duplication of entry…let your scheduling software also populate your website calendar(s) so you only have to enter data once.

BONUS: The rightscheduling solution can also schedule your HVAC systems!!! Wouldn’t that be nice?

Now…those are just the top 10 (and a bonus)…we assure you there are many more.

If you are looking for an easy to use and yet cost effective room/event/resource scheduling tool, consider eSPACE. You can try if for FREE for 30 days…or you can just KICK THE TIRES.